CIRCUIT, a law term, signifying the periodical progress of a legal tribunal for the sake of carrying out the administration of the law in the several provinces of a country. It has long been applied to the journey or progress which the judges have been in the habit of making twice every year, through the several counties of England, to hold courts and administer justice, where recourse could not be had to the king’s court at Westminster. The country, including Wales, is now, by Order in Council (under the Judicature Act, 1875), dated 5th February 1876, divided into seven circuits, viz., the Northern, North-Eastern, Midland, SouthEastern, Oxford, Western, North Wales, and South Wales Circuits. Counsel are not expected to practice on a circuit other than that to which they have attached themselves, unless they receive a special retainer. This and similar regulations are enforced by the discipline of the circuit bar mess only. In Scotland the judges of the supreme criminal court, or High Court of Justiciary, form also three separate circuit-courts, consisting of two judges each; and the country, with the exception of the Lothians, is divided into corresponding districts, called the Northern, Western, and Southern Circuits. In certain burghs of each circuit two courts are held in the year, in spring and autumn, called Circuit Courts. One more is held at Glasgow during the Christmas recess. Ireland is divided into the North-East and the North-West Circuits, the Home Circuit, and those of Leinster, Connaught, and Munster.